Phoenix
The political vehicle established to place permanent standing constitutional power directly in the hands of the electorate.
Phoenix exists for one Founding Objective: to secure, by lawful democratic means, a permanent standing constitutional power held directly by the electorate — the House of the Electorate — including transfer of the constitutional function presently exercised through Royal Assent from the Crown to that standing power.
Phoenix pursues that objective through the lawful democratic process. It may contest elections, serve in opposition, participate in government or form a government where entrusted with the mandate to do so.
Its Founding Objective cannot be abandoned, suspended, indefinitely deferred or redirected by the Party. But pursuing constitutional change does not mean abandoning ordinary government. Until the House of the Electorate has been lawfully established and a practical means of exercising its standing power has been proven operational, normal constitutional, parliamentary and governmental practice continues.
The destination is reached by votes, never by force.
Registration Status
Phoenix has been established as the political vehicle through which the Founding Objective will be pursued.
It is currently applying for registration with the Electoral Commission in Great Britain. Until registration is approved, Phoenix is not a registered political party and cannot stand candidates using its proposed registered Party identity.
Registration is part of the lawful electoral route through which Phoenix intends to place its constitutional proposal before the electorate.
Contents
- One Founding Objective
- Why a Political Party?
- Elections, Parliament and Government
- The Referendum
- The Transition
- When the Standing Power Becomes Operational
- Where Phoenix Sits
One Founding Objective
Phoenix exists to secure a permanent standing constitutional power held directly by the electorate.
That standing power is the House of the Electorate.
The objective is not merely to hold a referendum or pass legislation. The objective is achieved only when the standing power has been lawfully established and the practical means through which the electorate can exercise it has been proven operational.
No Leader, officer, committee, member ballot or other internal Party act has authority to abandon, suspend or redirect that Founding Objective.
Phoenix may develop broader policies where necessary to contest elections, govern or discharge parliamentary responsibilities, but no broader programme may displace the reason Phoenix exists.
Why a Political Party?
Phoenix chooses the lawful electoral and parliamentary route.
A petition can demonstrate public demand. A political party can take that demand into elections, Parliament and, if entrusted with sufficient democratic authority, government.
Phoenix therefore provides the electoral vehicle through which candidates can seek a mandate to establish the House of the Electorate and put the constitutional question before the people.
The Party does not claim sovereign authority for itself.
Its purpose is to establish the constitutional means through which the electorate holds that authority directly.
Elections, Parliament and Government
Phoenix is not based on the assumption that government can simply stop while constitutional reform is pursued.
It may contest elections throughout Great Britain for which it is lawfully registered.
Its representatives may serve in opposition, participate in government or form a government. They may use ministers, advisers, public servants and other lawful expertise in the ordinary administration of government.
If Phoenix is entrusted with government, it will therefore discharge the ordinary responsibilities of government while pursuing its Founding Objective.
Administration can be delegated.
The Founding Objective cannot.
Until the standing power becomes operational, ordinary democratic, parliamentary and governmental decision-making continues.
The Referendum
Phoenix seeks an electoral mandate to place the establishment of the House of the Electorate before the people through a binding referendum and to pursue the legislation necessary to give lawful effect to the result.
The referendum is therefore not intended to replace democratic consent.
It is the mechanism through which that consent is obtained.
The electorate decides whether the proposed constitutional transfer takes place.
Phoenix’s task is to put that choice before them and, where the necessary democratic authority has been obtained, give lawful effect to their decision.
The Transition
A successful referendum and the enactment of constitutional change do not by themselves make an untested system operational.
If the House of the Electorate is established in law before the practical mechanism through which it exercises its standing power is ready, normal government continues during the gap.
The mechanism may be built, tested, independently scrutinised and demonstrated, but no prototype, experimental platform or interim system acquires sovereign authority merely because it exists.
Operational transfer occurs only through lawful commencement arrangements after the mechanism intended to give practical effect to the standing power has been demonstrated to be:
- functional;
- secure;
- auditable; and
- capable of genuine electorate use.
This protects both sides of the transition.
The constitutional decision of the electorate must be honoured, but the country is not handed to an unfinished or unproven mechanism.
When the Standing Power Becomes Operational
Once operational, the House of the Electorate becomes the standing constitutional power contemplated by the Phoenix proposal.
Phoenix does not become sovereign.
The people do.
Phoenix must thereafter operate within the constitutional order established by the electorate. When exercising governmental or public functions, it must comply with lawful directions made through the standing power, subject to the constitutional rights then in force.
Establishing the House of the Electorate does not automatically dissolve Phoenix.
Its continued existence is not predetermined. Phoenix may continue within the constitutional order then in force or may ultimately be dissolved in accordance with its Constitution.
That decision is not something the present generation needs to impose upon those who come afterwards.
The permanent principle is the standing power of the electorate — not the permanent power of Phoenix.
Where Phoenix Sits
Phoenix is one part of the wider Phoenix Charter project and provides its electoral route to the Founding Objective.
The present constitutional path is:
Public demand
↓
Phoenix contests elections
↓
Electoral mandate
↓
Parliamentary and, where necessary, governmental action
↓
Binding referendum
↓
Lawful constitutional establishment of the House of the Electorate
↓
Practical mechanism tested and proven operational
↓
Standing power exercised directly by the electorate
Throughout that process, ordinary constitutional government continues until it is lawfully changed.
The purpose is not to replace one political master with another.
It is to establish a constitutional order in which ultimate standing power is held by the electorate itself.
Vox Populi est Sui Iuris — The Voice of the People is Sovereign.